My daughter gave a presentation to convince me to buy a mobile phone.

• When my daughter was in eighth grade, she gave a presentation to win an iPhone or iPod.
• My opinion didn’t change and she got nothing.
• She is now 16 and along with her sister finally have their own cell phones.

“Hey, my life has gotten so much better this year, do you know why?” my 16-year-old daughter asked my husband and me. Around the dinner table recently.

I raised my eyebrows at her, knowing what was going to happen next.

“That’s my phone!” she cried. “My phone has made my life so much better, I don’t know why I waited so long!”

The thing is, I was squarely in the “mean mom” camp of parents who delayed having children. Teenage daughter’s smartphoneWe didn’t have any strict rules about when to buy a smartphone, but for various reasons, our eldest daughter wasn’t able to get a proper smartphone until she was in high school.

There are many reasons why she didn’t do it sooner.

Here are some reasons why: My kids went to a very small school. Private Schools My daughter had one in elementary school before she moved to public school, so cell phones aren’t a given. She became a teenager during the pandemic and has been taking online classes for two years, so she was home with me and didn’t need a cell phone, and her father works at her current school, so I didn’t really need a way to stay in touch with her. But overall, I didn’t see the need to open up the Pandora’s box of smartphones and change all of our lives in a hurry.

My daughter is the eldest of five siblings. Introducing smartphones It would set an example for the kids to follow, and there was no turning back, so I was in no hurry.

She gave a presentation to persuade me.

But the girl kept pleading, Begging for a phone callIn seventh grade, she designed a truly impressive infographic and convinced me to buy her a cell phone or at least an iPod (some of her old schoolmates had them at the time).

“Knowing my mom, I thought if I looked professional and wrote an entire presentation about it, she would cave,” the daughter said of why she decided to create the infographic. And I have to admit, her presentation was extremely professional and covered some of the key aspects of cell phone ownership.

• A good reason to use your cell phone to communicate with friends
• Her role as a mobile phone owner
• Offer to buy a cell phone with your own money
• As the eldest daughter, I have more responsibility and ownership

I was deeply impressed Her infographicUnfortunately, my mind remained the same. I didn’t feel that my daughter’s desire to fit in was greater than my desire to preserve the benefits of a cell phone-free childhood for as long as possible.

Speaking to my daughter now, I feel a little regretful about the way she felt. Being left behind by classmates who don’t have cell phonesEspecially since she had just gone through the extremely difficult process of transferring from a small private school to a much larger public school where she only knew a few people.

She got a cell phone when she was in high school.

Ultimately, I decided it was time to let my daughter have a cell phone, mostly because she was in high school and on a varsity sports team, and I felt that she and I were ready to take this new step together.

To her great unfairness, I also bought her sister, who is two years younger than her, a cell phone at the same time, again for reasons including sisters being able to talk to each other, sports, back-to-schooling, and of course the allure of the family plan.

I fully acknowledge that my oldest daughter got the full “oldest sister” treatment by waiting longer than her sister.

I can’t say with 100% confidence that keeping our family cell phones free was the right decision — if there is such a thing as a “right” decision in parenting — but I followed my instincts as best I could, and I still feel strongly that a cell phone-free life can be a gift in many ways.

Though my daughter is now excited about the connectedness of her phone, she acknowledges that life with a phone also has some drawbacks. “Social media can make me feel like I have to Snapchat back or compare myself to other girls,” she told me.